Women's career development: Can theoretically derived variables predict persistence in engineering majors?

Abstract

Factors related to persistence in engineering, particularly for women, were examined in 278 upper level undergraduate women and men who, as entering students, enrolled in the college of engineering at a large midwestern university. An overall model of persistence was created by integrating constructs derived from a number of theories relevant to women's career behavior, including self-efficacy theory, expectancy-valence theory, interest congruence theory, and influences on women's career development. Hierarchical logistic regression revealed that ability, self-efficacy, support-barriers, and interest congruence each added significantly to the model predicting persistence, which correctly identified 92.6% of persisters and 62.3% of nonpersisters. Gender and expectancy-valence variables were not significant predictors, nor were any of the 2-way interactions with gender. Implications for future research and interventions are discussed.

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1. Contextual supports and barriers to career choice: A social cognitive analysis.
   Lent, Robert W., Brown, Steven D., Hackett, Gail · 2000 · Journal of Counseling Psychology
2. Social cognitive predictors of academic interests and goals in engineering: Utility for women and students at historically Black universities
   Lent, Robert W., Brown, Steven D., Sheu, Hung-Bin, Schmidt, Janet, Brenner, Bradley R., Gloster, Clay S., Wilkins, Gregory, Schmidt, Linda C., Lyons, Heather, Treistman, Dana · 2005 · Journal of Counseling Psychology
3. Social cognitive career theory and the prediction of interests and choice goals in the computing disciplines
   Lent, Robert W., Lopez, Antonio M., Lopez, Frederick G., Sheu, Hung-Bin · 2008 · Journal of Vocational Behavior
4. Longitudinal relations of self-efficacy to outcome expectations, interests, and major choice goals in engineering students
   Lent, Robert W., Sheu, Hung-Bin, Singley, Daniel, Schmidt, Janet A., Schmidt, Linda C., Gloster, Clay S. · 2008 · Journal of Vocational Behavior
5. An Analysis of Motivation Constructs with First‐Year Engineering Students: Relationships Among Expectancies, Values, Achievement, and Career Plans
   Jones, Brett D., Paretti, Marie C., Hein, Serge F., Knott, Tamara W. · 2010 · Journal of Engineering Education

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